Last Saturday, winning his second major title in two weeks, Tom O’Neill ran through hilly Holmdel Park, the New Jersey state championship course, without hearing a thing. Competing in the state-wide Shore Coaches Invitational, O’Neill, a 17-year-old Middletown North junior, did not hear runners behind him or the rustle of fallen leaves underfoot or the cheering crowds when he raced down the home straight for a 5K victory in 16:01.

O’Neill is deaf. He was born deaf and received a cochlear implant as a child. About 70,000 Americans with hearing disabilities have the implant, which is surgically inserted into the back of the head and behind the ear. In addition, an external device that looks like a hearing aid is placed behind the ear and connected to the implant.

O’Neill started running at North as a freshman and loved it. But he could not run with the external device because it is very expensive and could fall off and break; the device can also be damaged by moisture, like a runner’s sweat.

So O’Neill runs “alone.” Just him and his thoughts. “It’s nice and quiet,” he says. “I concentrate on the race.”

At times, he still feels a void. “I wish I could hear people cheer to make me pick up the pace,” O’Neill said after winning one of the seven boys’ varsity races at Holmdel last Saturday. His time was the second fastest of the meet and a 45-second PR for the course. “I also wouldn’t know if someone is coming up behind me. But I don’t want to look back.”

Last season in track, his coaches, Brock Silvestri and Rich Piro, used hand signals to instruct O’Neill during competition. They would motion for O’Neill to pick up the pace, or hold back. “We realized that certain things were hard to communicate with hand signals,” says Silvestri. “This fall I’ve been running around the race course with a white board and marker, writing messages for Tom.”

On Sept. 29, at the Garret Mountain course in the Passaic County Coaches Invitational, Silvestri positioned himself at the one-mile point, white board in hand. Prior to the race, he’d told O’Neill to stick with the leaders through two miles, then break away. When O’Neill passed Silvestri at the mile, the board said, “Stay put, be patient, stay smooth.” At 2.5 miles, O’Neill had a big lead and the board said, “20-second gap, finish under control, the race is yours.” O’Neill ran the 5K course in 15:47, the 10th-fastest ever at the site.

Silvestri could not be at Holmdel last Saturday, so he discussed strategy with O’Neill all week long to reinforce it. As it turned out, O’Neill really did have the course to himself. He triumphed by 27 seconds.

Last spring in track, as a sophomore, O’Neill ran the 1600m in 4:18.64, placing 4th in the Monmouth County meet, and the 3200m in 9:22.73, good for 14th in a remarkably deep state championship field.

Because Middletown is just down the road from Lincroft, where national champion Christian Brothers Academy is located, O’Neill gets steep competition right in his neighborhood. Last summer, O’Neill, 6’1” and 155 pounds, joined the CBA pack for Sunday training runs at Holmdel Park and also attended the CBA cross-country camp. He did 14-mile runs and worked up to 70 miles a week. He learned to sustain the relentless CBA pace.

O’Neill’s progress toward state championship contention will receive another test this Saturday at the Manhattan College high school invitational at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. He’s also hoping to run either the Nike Cross Nationals or Foot Locker northeast regional on Nov. 24.

O’Neill has two sisters and a brother, all with normal hearing. He receives speech therapy and speaks normally. To continually work on his speech, O’Neill says he reads a lot and speaks out loud to himself.

Silvestri believes that while O’Neill’s impairment has its disadvantages in competition, it can also be beneficial. “It allows him to focus on his race, just on himself, with no distractions,” he says.